Superstorm Sandy starts long slog inland after making landfall

Two women try to hold onto their umbrellas in a wind-soaked rainfall as the superstorm Sandy approaches Oct. 29, 2012, in Philadelphia. / Getty Images

HARRISBURG, Pa. The storm that was Sandy isn't done just yet.

After lashing coastal cities and inundating parts of New York City with 13 feet of water, the core of the hybrid storm is beginning a long slog across Pennsylvania and upstate New York, with its effects spreading as far west as Wisconsin and Illinois.

75 Photos

Hurricane Sandy slams Northeast

The big storm, which has caused wind warnings from Chicago to Maine and Canada to Florida, will continue to be a problem for a couple more days with heavy rainfall, snow and local flooding.

"This is going to be an event that for a period of time is going to alter the way we do things," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday, warning residents of his state they would not escape with just a glancing blow.

By midnight, what's left of Sandy was near Philadelphia and was forecast to spend most of Tuesday heading across Pennsylvania and then take a sharp turn Wednesday into western New York, weakening as it moved, said Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

Play Video

Video: Dramatic HMS Bounty ship rescue

Early Tuesday morning, Sandy was near York, Pa., heading west at 15 mph, Bruce Terry, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service, told CBS Radio News. It was expected to turn northwestward and reach western New York by Wednesday morning.

The once-tropical system has merged with a wintry cold front and is likely to produce heavy rain in the East for the next two or three days — adding up to more flooding, Brown said.

Coastal storm surge will likely continue to be elevated Tuesday, especially with morning high tides, but they may be at levels a foot to a couple of feet less than Monday night's peak, Brown said. On the coast, gale-force winds will continue and subside eventually Tuesday evening, but inland they should subside by midday.

Play Video

Appalachia braces for snow from Sandy

In parts of the mid-Atlantic region, particularly higher elevations, several more inches of snow was predicted Tuesday in addition to what fell the night before.

On the western shore of Lake Michigan, large waves were a concern. The Village of Pleasant Prairie, Wis., urged residents to evacuate in anticipation of waves as high as 18 feet. In Chicago, emergency officials asked residents and utility crews to be prepared for winds forecast at 50 mph and waves as high as 25 feet.

In upstate New York, automated calls warned about 13,000 Rochester-area residents who live near Lake Ontario to watch out for waves of 8 to 10 feet overnight. Emergency officials in neighboring Wayne County also suggested that shoreline homeowners evacuate.

The National Weather Service warned of hurricane-force winds with gusts up to 80 mph in New York City and surrounding counties until Tuesday evening.

[msimamaji]

Last year, we witnessed Hurricane Irene. This year, it's Hurricane Sandy, which every expert agress is unprecedented.

In the meantime, we keep dumping carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Folks, can we put two and two together????? Carbon emissions = global climate change. Global climate change = extreme weather - including storms like Hurricane Sandy.

Unlike the EnergyVoters on TV (funded by the oil companies) or the entire Republican party, insurance companies are not fools. While I am writing this blog, actuaries are working overtime to create new risk assessment models. The result - a lot of home and business owners can expect much higher insurance rates.

But that's not all. No one wants to buy a home if they can't pay the insurance premiums. You can expect property values to decrease in many parts of the country. A lot of folks who thought their home would give them a retirement nest egg, will find that their mortgage is underwater.

And even that's not all. If I were in the mortgage business, I'd be red-lining who regious of the country right now. Remember, mortgages are long term affairs. In 30 years, the map of this country will different. Not only will we see propert destroyed by frequent floods and storm surges, we'll also witness sea water seeping into wetlands and water supplies.

I don't exactly when this will happen, but rising sea levels will certainly incrase the odds. It will only be a matter of time before the real estate industry catches up with me.

Finally, the big surprise. The Economist may write glowing articles about an ice-free Arctic Ocean, but they don't understand that billions of tons of methane are trapped in permafrost in Siberia. What happens when the permafrost melts and the methane trapped in permafrost starts to escape? Methane is a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Politically, the GOP pretends that global climate change does not exist. Obama at least recognizes that climate change is a problem. That's a big reason we need to re-hire Obama and fire the entire lyin'-Ryan, Shifty-Mitty GOP.

If you want to call me all sorts of names, be my guest. But you can't close your eyes to reality. The future of your children will depend on how you vote. We need a government that will take action to reduce carbon emissions NOW.

[matt6052]

"What happens when the permafrost melts and the methane trapped in permafrost starts to escape? Methane is a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide."

Permafrost melting is also a problem in North America. It can create a vicious cycle where methane released into the atmosphere increases the temperature and the increased temperature melts more permafrost.

Of course, methane is not just limited to the permafrost. It boils up from the bottom of the oceans as it has from antiquity.

[Truth--Tracker]

NWS National Hurricane Center is a DISGRACE. At 10 PM EDT Monday, October 29, 2012 we went to the "NWS National Hurricane Center" to track Hurricane Sandy and determine its CURRENT location and coordinates. What we saw were maps and data for 5 PM -- over five (5) hours earlier.

At 7 AM EDT Tuesday, October 30, 2012 we went to the "NWS National Hurricane Center" to track Hurricane Sandy and determine its CURRENT location. What we saw were maps and data for 11 PM Monday evening, October 29 -- over eight (8) hours earlier. At 7:30 AM Tuesday the entire Hurricane tracking map was blank with no storm location whatsoever.

The NWS and its so-called "National Hurricane Center" tracking website is a complete DISGRACE of monumental proportions -- a useless fraud. On Tuesday morning at 7 AM we had to go to an MSNBC web site to get CURRENT Sandy location coordinates BECAUSE THE NWS HAD COMPLETELY ABANDONED THE MOST IMPORTANT SERVICE IT HAS -- namely -- "Tracking a Hurricane of Immense Significance to tens-of-millions of people along the northeast corridor." The useless dolts at NWS need to shut that entire website down permanently -- because it obviously has absolutely no interest whatsoever in maintaining it or in performing the most important service there was for the NWS to perform.

Maybe once or twice in an entire year do people need to track such storms. Only once or twice in an entire year do people need to rely on the NWS storm-tracking website for vital CURRENT tracking information -- and the NWS chose instead to abandon that responsibility entirely, rendering it completely useless and irrelevant at such a critical time.

NWS needs to shut that useless piece of abandoned garbage (website) down and go back to bed.

[msimamaji]

No one, not even the NWS, could predict the path of Hurricane Sandy. Remember, this type of storm has never appeared before.

If we keep heating up the planet, be rest assured. We can expect more freak storms, just like Sandy. That's the only sure-fire prediction that any meteorologist can give you.